42 



Dicerca ? A pair. 



A small weevil unknown to me. 



Portions of Cicindela repanda Dej., other Ooleoptera and some Diptera. 



From the above list it would seem that toads can hardly be called useful, seeing that 

 such a large proportion of their food — if we take this one for a standard — consists of 

 decidedly beneficial insects. I will allow that they are very desirable tenants for the 

 owners of gardens, but in the woods they must be formidable rivals to the entomologist. 

 This year they have been unusually abundant, and the rarity of many of our beetles is no 

 doubt caused by their rapacious appetites. 



I have not taken C. frigidum before ; the Dicerca is also new to me. I find it very 

 difficult to determine my captures, and a serious obstacle to taking satisfactory notes. I 

 am indebted to W. H. Harrington, of Ottawa, lor the naming of a considerable number 

 last winter. C. calidum Fabr. also seems to be quite rare here ; I made special search 

 for it this spring and found but one specimen. I took another on October 27th last year, 

 from the heart of a decaying log. Is it double brooded in this part of Ontario % Or 

 would it be possible for one attaining the perfect state in June to live through the summer 

 and survive the winter 1 The specimen I captured in October had evidently prepared to 

 hybernate. On June 15th I found under stones on dry ground a pair of Calosomas 

 which are entirely new to me. I expect though I could name them from the Society's 

 collection in London. 



I should have been surprised to find so large and active a beetle as G. frigidum 

 falling a prey even to the biggest of toads. The Buprestida? must also be rather tough 

 morsels for them to digest. It will ever remain an open question as to whether " our 

 departed friend " lost its life through its own greediness, or met a violent death at the 

 hands of one of its many foes. I have read of some ardent collectors who secured many 

 rare beetles by capturing and killing the toads they found in their rambles. 



ON PRESERVING INSECTS. 



BY PH. FISCHER, BUFFALO, N.Y. 



I have often read articles about keeping parasites out of cabinets, and have seen in 

 many entomological papers different remedies suggested to keep them from destroying, in 

 a very short time, even the largest collection. I will now add my own experience, and 

 remedy which always proved to be efficient during my fourteen years' collecting, in which 

 time I have not even lost one specimen. It will especially prove of interest to the 

 beginner. In the first place I would advise all those who cannot afford a large cabinet 

 with good fitting drawers, to go to any good joiner and have some boxes made after the 

 following pattern : Take the lumber about three-sixteenth inch thick for top and bottom, 

 for the sides a quarter of an inch. Have the box about fifteen inches long by twelve 

 inches wide, and four inches thick outside measure, and shape it book form, the bottom 

 and top a quarter of an inch projecting. That portion which represents the cover of the 

 book is cut into lengthwise, so as to make two receptacles, each about two inches high. 

 The back is made of three-quarter inch lumber, in the shape of the back of a real book, 

 which is covered with some strong cloth or thin leather outside, and cloth inside, to act 

 as hinges. The two parts will have to be constructed so that they will, by closing them, 

 fold together about a quarter of an inch. Have this neatly covered and lined with a 

 suitable soft material, and it will be a tight and handy box for any kind of insects. 

 Before transferring insects in a new box, I put them on cork and expose them to a 

 moderately hot oven, which I also invariably do with insects receivea through exchanges. 

 After a certain time, say half an hour, I take them out, and they are placed in the box, 

 in which is pinned a little sponge the size of a small nut, saturated with carbolic acid 

 {crystallized), which has to be renewed every six or eight weeks. Old cabinets infested 



